by Anton Johan
Believe it or not but there's a downside to winning a country's premier football league, like Bayern Munich did last season in Germany's
Bundesliga, which is that the champions are expected to play just as well the following season.
Which is why fans of
Bayern Munich were left scratching their heads Friday night after their team was beaten 2-0 by recently promoted Kaiserslautern. On paper Kaiserslautern should have lost 6-0 to Bayern, but the reality was very different.
Surprisingly, after the match at Kaiserslautern's home ground, fans of both teams would surely have agreed that Bayern actually played better than their opponents, despite the two goals Kaiserslautern managed to score in the 36th and 37th minute.
Those goals - courtesy of Kaiserslautern midfielder Ivo Ilicevic and striker Srdjan Lakic respectively - should not have happened, but they did, and try as they may for the remainder of the match, and despite many chances, Bayern failed to equalise.
For instance, early on Bayern's talented midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger had a nice shot at goal, but sent it just wide of the post. And later, 20-year-old forward and member of Germany's 2010 World Cup Squad, Thomas Müller, also sent one wide.
Then there was Yugoslavian-born forward Ivica Olić who also had his chance to put Bayern Munich on the scoreboard, but his header also missed the target. At which point, Kaiserslautern's scoring onslaught began, leaving Bayern fans open-mouthed.
And after half-time, Bayern Munich's players continued to miss chance after chance. For instance, striker Miroslav Klose's early attempt ran out of steam, while winger Franck Ribery's free-kick had just the right curl, but sailed over the crossbar.
So after just two games of the 2010-11 Bundesliga, 1899 Hoffenheim, FC Kaiserslautern, FSV Mainz, Hamburger SV and Hannover 96 share the lead with six points while last years champion s have some catching up to do being on three points.
Here are the latest 2010-11 Bundesliga football results:
FC Kaiserslautern 2-0 Bayern München
Schalke 04 1-2 Hannover 96
Werder Bremen 4-2 1. FC Köln
VfL Wolfsburg 3-4 FSV Mainz 05
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-3 Hamburger SV
FC Nürnberg 1-2 SC Freiburg
FC St.Pauli 0-1 Hoffenheim
Bayer Leverkusen 3-6 Borussia Mönchengladbach
VfB Stuttgart 1-3 Borussia Dortmund
